The SEC in 2009: Every game picked, one or two correctly!
We’re 17 days from kickoff, and already I know how The Only League That Matters will go. I know because I’ve applied the special Bradley brand of forecasting and come up with this detailed look at the SEC in 2009. Read it quickly, lest I run afoul of the league’s new media policy. (Section 3-a-iii: No writer can mention our school’s names without first slipping Verne Lundquist 10 bucks.)
SEC East
1. Florida: I don’t know how Urban Meyer does it. Every other year he takes a bunch of no-names and wins the national championship. This year, however, he’ll fall just short. He’ll win the first 13 games and then lose No. 14. Regular season: 12-0. SEC title game: Beats LSU. BCS title game: Loses to Texas.
2. Georgia: Joe Cox will be better than Joe Tereshinski III but less good than D.J. Shockley. A loss in Stillwater on Sept. 5 will set the tone for a solid season by most standards but a middling one by Mark Richt’s. Regular season: 8-4, losses to Oklahoma State, LSU, Florida and Georgia Tech. Outback Bowl: Beats Michigan.
3. South Carolina: The Gamecocks will start 0-2, which will set off speculation that Steve Spurrier will quit after the season. They’ll get better thereafter, but not so much better that Spurrier decides to stick around in 2010. Regular season: 7-5, losses to N.C. State, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas and Florida. Music City Bowl: Beats Miami.
4. Kentucky: Rich Brooks has taken the Wildcats to bowl games the past three seasons, and who said he was a lousy hire? (Actually, me.) This year Kentucky beats Tennessee for the first time since 1984. Regular season: 7-5, losses to Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, Auburn and Georgia. Liberty Bowl: Beats Southern Miss.
5. Vanderbilt: Every half-century the Commodores up and win a bowl game. Last year’s victory over Boston College in the Music City Bowl will have to suffice until, say, 2060. But Vandy will get a consolation prize: It’ll upset Georgia Tech. Regular season: 5-7, losses to Mississippi State, LSU, Ole Miss, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida and Kentucky.
6. Tennessee: Lane Kiffin is the new coach. He’s a humble sort of fellow. His humility will be tested. He’ll finish 4-8, one game worse than in the record that season saw Phillip Fulmer shoved out the door. But UT will win on Signing Day, which is all that counts. Regular season: 4-8, losses to UCLA, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Kentucky.
SEC West
1. LSU: The best hire by any SEC school over the offseason — better than Chizik, better even than Kiffin — was the Tigers nabbing defensive coordinator John Chavis, who kept Tennessee afloat the past decade. He’ll put things right posthaste. Regular season: 11-1, loss to Florida. SEC title game: Loses to Florida. Capital One Bowl: Beats Penn State.
2. Alabama: The Tide got a bit ahead of itself last season by rising to No. 1 in the land, but it’ll be in the top five when LSU arrives in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 7. Then it’ll drop out. But there’s a national title coming soon. Regular season: 11-1, loss to LSU. Sugar Bowl: Loses to Oklahoma.
Loading ...3. Arkansas: Hate him all you want, but Bobby Petrino can coach. And here’s where he gets it rolling and becomes the toast of the Ozarks. Then, being Bobby Petrino, he’ll leave to coach the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Regular season: 8-4, losses to Georgia, Alabama, Florida and LSU. Cotton Bowl: Beats Oklahoma State.
4. Ole Miss: The chic pick to win the West, but it won’t happen. The schedule sets up nicely — both LSU and Alabama come to Oxford — but the team isn’t quite that good. A Sept. 24 upset loss in Columbia will grease the chute. Regular season: 8-4, losses to South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas and LSU. Chick-fil-A Bowl: Loses to Virginia Tech.
5. Auburn: Gene Chizik is the new Tiger coach, and I think I speak for everyone when I say, “Gene Chizik?” But give G-Chiz this: Alongside Lane Kiffin, he looks like Lombardi. And he does have that limo thing going for him. Regular season: 6-6, losses to Tennessee, Arkansas, LSU, Ole Miss, Georgia and Alabama. Independence Bowl: Loses to Missouri.
6. Mississippi State: Dan Mullen has a great pedigree, having coached alongside Urban Meyer. Dan Mullen now has a great impediment — he’s coaching the other Bulldogs. He seems a good hire. Then again, so did Sylvester Croom. Regular season: 4-8, losses to Auburn, LSU, Georgia Tech, Florida, Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas and Ole Miss.
And now a word from Verne Lundquist: Actually, it’s still me. Due to my periodic bout of temporary insanity, I did not, in the first take of this post, have a winner in the Georgia-Arkansas, Tennessee-Florida or Tennessee-Auburn games. Actually, I had them in my mind, but I neglected to make them show up above. They’re here now — Georgia over Arkansas, which finishes 8-4; Florida over Tennessee, which finishes 4-8 and finishes sixth in the East, and Tennessee over Auburn, which finishes 6-6 but is still bowl-eligible.
Thanks to all those who pointed out the omissions/errors. I’m in your debt. And I am sorry. There’s no excuse for sloppiness. Except the usual one: That I’m a big fat idiot.
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330 comments Add your comment
MV8
August 19th, 2009
12:17 pm
OK, obviously the Gators will pound the Vols & the Dawgs will beat the Hawgs, as for MB, first you curse the Braves with your blog about the Braves are headed to the playoffs???? then they implode, now you say the Dawgs will go 8-4??? That means they will win more than 8 games since you predict 8, thanks MB & does MB stand for MORON BRADLEY??? GO DAWGS!!! GO BRAVOS!!! GO AWAY MB!!!! SIC EM WOOF WOOF WOOF
Ryno
August 19th, 2009
12:17 pm
Mr. Bradley – I don’t have problem with your league predictions but I think you give too much credit to Michigan.
Do you really think they bounce back to a New Years Day bowl game this year?
null
August 19th, 2009
12:20 pm
Lighten up, ball licker fans. I know for a fact that many of you screw up at work too. Just last week, when I was getting new tires, you forgot to put all the lug bolts back on and yesterday you forgot that I ordered fries.
Atlanta Sports Fans
August 19th, 2009
12:22 pm
Snooze…..Anybody else beginning to see these blogs as a daycare for high school dropouts?
Valdosta Dawg
August 19th, 2009
12:23 pm
Mark you are smoking something if you think the Dawgs lose to the Geeks again, UGA will win 3 of those 4 you say we are going to lose!
juvenal
August 19th, 2009
12:23 pm
it’s a shame sports can’t just be fun, blame the Greeks for taking the Olympics so seriously..
JOHN
August 19th, 2009
12:24 pm
I’ll tell you how Florida will do it..it’s simple, look at their schedule only 4 away games and the rest are against troy, Charleston southern,florida international, florida state, Lsu and Georgia are their hardest competion and they both suck! so give me a break the GATORS ARE JOKE!
chazzo
August 19th, 2009
12:32 pm
If LSU plays UF for the SEC title and loses. UF, according to you, is off to play TExas for the NC. So, LSU not Bama will play in the sugar.
As before, I say the dawgs will not lose to all three OSU, LSU, and UF, and the dawgs will absolutely not lose to Tech. So, your 8-4 is not going to float unless the dawgs take one of the others too lightly. I am thinking by the end of the season next year, Auburn might just be better than a lot of folks think.
If you are all warm and fuzzy about LSU’s D-coordinator, what about UT’s. Kiffin’s Old Man may whip those guys into shape and save a few games while they figure out who the QB may be.
If UF goes undefeated, they are going to take out Texas or whoever else may show up. I don’t look for any wins against the Gators by attrition or law of averages. The only way the gators lose this year is if they get careless and the other team plays flawless. I don’t see their D gettting careless, and I don’t see Tebow letting the offense get careless.
You overestimate LSU, GT, Texas, and, like everyone else, OSU and Ole MIss. You underestimate Georgia and possibly, like everyone else Tennessee and Auburn.
Josh
August 19th, 2009
12:33 pm
So the SEC loses both the NC game and the Sugar Bowl? To the Big 12? Riiiight. There’s objectivity, and then there’s just dumb.
Dawg Tired
August 19th, 2009
12:34 pm
I guess I don’t understand the poll question. To me, “least inspired” means a prediction that any one would be able to make. LSU first in the West seems so obvious as to not be inspired at all. Sure, UGA losing 4 seems like a fairly safe prediction, but the dawgs could go 9-3 or 10-2 or 7-5, etc. LSU winning the West seems a surer thing than UGA going 8-4. Wouldn’t that make the LSU prediction less inspired? Help me understand why only 7% picked that one and 44% picked the UGA prediction. I’m assuming 44% actually agree with Mark’s prediction for the dawgs.
Help me understand this!
chazzo
August 19th, 2009
12:41 pm
PS. I meant to phrase my first sentence as a question. If UF likely wins the East and SEC then goes off to the NC, wouldn’t the loser of the SEC championship be the runner up and go to the Sugar Bowl?
Dawg Tired
August 19th, 2009
12:43 pm
John – If you think the Gators are a joke, I assume you mean they are one of the worst teams in college football. Based upon that, I wonder why you would bother to comment on college football at all. Wouldn’t it make more sense to comment on a subject you know something about? Please understand that I’m the guy who obviously can’t figure out the poll question, so it may be me that knows nothing about college football – not you.
That said, I’m curious as to which college team you pull for. I assume you think your team could certainly beat a team you consider to be a”joke.” Or do you pull for a team that is worse than a “joke?” If so, why? Just wondering.
Gen Neyland
August 19th, 2009
12:44 pm
Gee MB, 4-8..? Thank goodness you didn’t have Western Kentucky waxing the Vols. Shootfire, I’ll put my 1972 Pinto wagon up against your 2009 Lexus on that 4-8 thing.
WonderIFIwereaDawg
August 19th, 2009
12:45 pm
Dawgs: Will lose at least 4games: Martinez is week: He is not a top tier D1 Def coach for 13 games: Bobo: avg at best play caller: We will now just find out what he had at georgia when stafford turns out to be great for the Lions… Richt good coach not tough enough to take them to the big dance…. He can waltz for 9 to 11 wins, but can not motivate team for an (remember-he is the coach that redshirted knowshon Moreno) entire year like Urban Meyer, Les Miles, Nick Saban, ect… Houston Nutt, best game day coach in football… Ten will make a statment, I like the new coach…. Like a young spurrier.. I take Ole Miss and Fla in the sec… Hope Tebow wins the His-man… The bottom line for the dawgs they would rather be ranked 15 with no No 1 distractions than be ranked preseason No 1 and have all the attention, this was said directly out of Mark Richt mouth… This is why UGA will never win a BCS under Mark Richt…. Just want happen, but Tech will under Johnson….. wait and seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…
Darindawg
August 19th, 2009
12:45 pm
Mark, I’ve taken up for ya in the past man, but your making it real difficult. UGA is going to lose to Tech, who is going to lose to….Vanderbilt???!!! HUH???!!! CFN has our OL ranked #2 in the nation behind only the Trojans. They’ve got Tech’s DL ranked a whopping #56 in the nation after losing 3 starters including Michael Johnson. Isn’t the game won in the trenches?? You really think we’ll lose to the bugs again if we’re healthy? Come on man, I’ll give you a Mulligan and take this one back.
MSU
August 19th, 2009
12:48 pm
As a long suffering Miss State fan I agree with your prediction. I do however believe they will beat a team that that they should not and will show alot of improvement as the year goes on.
jkownit
August 19th, 2009
12:53 pm
You give the Bayou Bengals and “The Hat” waaaaay to much credit. No way they win IN Tuscaloosa.
ToccoaDawg
August 19th, 2009
12:55 pm
Dear AJC editors: please furlough Bradley until after football season
Tony
August 19th, 2009
12:55 pm
Bradly is such a donk!
Chris
August 19th, 2009
1:00 pm
Why would the Sooners be playing in the Sugar Bowl anyway? Wouldn’t the Fiesta Bowl have first shot at the #2 Big-12 team since Texas is playing in the big show?
Skeptic
August 19th, 2009
1:02 pm
Those professional oddsmakers don’t list OK St. as a 6-point favorite over GA just because they like the uniforms.
And don’t chalk down a W automatically when Auburn plays West Virginia.
jeffrey d
August 19th, 2009
1:03 pm
For the love of Herschel, please don’t end your comments with “GO DAWGS!!!!!!!!” or “WOOF WOOF WOOF!” It just makes us Georgia fans look like bigger doofuses.
VolInWoodstock
August 19th, 2009
1:06 pm
you state kiffin will lead UT to the same record as Fulmer did last year, 5-7 but later on you say the record will be 4-8? So which will it be Mr. Bradley? Another quality piece of journalism from the AJC
VolsRLU
August 19th, 2009
1:08 pm
You’re picking UT last in the East? You are a complete bonehead if you truly believe that!
Chris
August 19th, 2009
1:09 pm
Mark man,
This stuff is so funny. I often wonder what it must be like to be you and read these. You just know some of these people are seriously honked off at you for predicting ‘their’ team to lose.
It’s fascinating really. You get an occassional lucid analysis for every five or ten ‘you’re an idiot’(s).
Hang in there bud. I’ve looked forward to your column first for a good 20 years every day. On a side bar, I met you outside a comic book store near Smyrna/Vinings in the early 90’s where we discussed Todd (?)…last name escapes me now. The guy whose version of Spider Man was striking and fresh. Anyhow, you were really gracious and I have always been a big fan.
DonnanDawg
August 19th, 2009
1:10 pm
UGA will shock the SEC this year. Remember that I told you so when December rolls around. The Dawgs will regain their defensive swagger and Cox/Green/Ealey will run up huge scores. Georgia goes 12 – 0 and gets to dance with Oklahoma for the glass pigskin in 2010.
UGASUX
August 19th, 2009
1:12 pm
UGA goes 6-6 with losses to Oklahoma State, S Carolina, Tenn, LSU, Florida and Georgia Tech.
Big Dawg
August 19th, 2009
1:17 pm
Tebow is gay.
Otto
August 19th, 2009
1:18 pm
Jefferson, UGA returns their bet players, Sturdivant, Owens, Atkins, Curren, AJ etc.
UGA who cares?
August 19th, 2009
1:18 pm
Da “dawgs” will lose all of their games becuse they suck and their fan base is a bunch of morons! GO UF!!!!
DonnanDawg
August 19th, 2009
1:18 pm
SUX, you shouldn’t drink the bong water. Get straight and/or sober up, clown.
TN Jeff
August 19th, 2009
1:18 pm
Do even you read what you write Bradley???? You have Kiffin going 5 & 7 and the team finishing 4 & 8. So will Kiffin go out and claim a win for some other team?
DirtyDawg
August 19th, 2009
1:19 pm
Hey WonderIf…are you a complete idiot or do you just play one ‘on-line’? What ‘weak’ was that about Willie? Next ‘weak’, last ‘weak’ or ‘weak’ after next? Florida, like Georgia and virtually every other team ranked #1 pre-season will find that ending up #1 doesn’t happen very much – like maybe three times in the last 20 years. So call it distractions or whatever, it happens. As for being ranked #15 pre-season, that’s pretty close to where we were (actually 16) in 1980 – so it’s not a bad starting point…Richt can’t motivate enough to ever win it all? Pretty pathetic given that you’re also predicting that Johnson ‘will’ win it all at Tech. Don’t know how much you have, but I’d be willing to wager everything I’ve got against it that that never happens (and we won’t have to ‘wait’ long to see since he’ll be gone after three or four seasons). Johnson and Tech winning the NC may be the lamest comment you made in the entire post…unless it was Houston Nutt being the best ‘game-day’ coach in football, or Lame Kiffin was the next Spurrier – admit he’s got the mouth, but at least Spurrier had some ‘creds’ on his record that supported such an ego – Heismann, ACC Championship at Duke, wins at Florida before he started shooting his mouth off…that kind of thing.
BigDaddyInDallas
August 19th, 2009
1:22 pm
Not a good article. Hating Kiffiin before he has coached a game is biased. They will probably go 8-4. How you see them losing to Kentucky Vanderbilt, etc. is ridiculous. don’t be a hater….
UGASUX
August 19th, 2009
1:25 pm
DonnanDawg…The truth hurts, doesn’t it?
Cuz
August 19th, 2009
1:33 pm
Well Mark you accomplished your goal. Everyone is mad at you. Exclude this fan though. If Gen Neyland is willing to bet his treasured 1972 Pinto Wagon, your UT prediction could be in peril.
Of course truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction, afterall, has to stick to possibilities.
Mark Twain.
Mark Bradley
August 19th, 2009
1:37 pm
Chazzo, you’d think that would be the way it works: SEC title game loses goes to the Sugar. But it doesn’t always. I think the Sugar would take 11-1 Alabama over 11-2 LSU. Kind of the way it worked when Missouri went into the Big 12 title game two years ago ranked No. 1, lost the game and wound up out of the BCS bowls.
Mark Bradley
August 19th, 2009
1:38 pm
Thanks, Chris. I believe the Todd in question was McFarlane, who’s now one of the big sports memorabilia guys.
BIG UGLIES WIN GAMES!!!
August 19th, 2009
1:43 pm
MARK!MARK!! How is AR going to cover UGA receivers? Do they have any healty DB’S. OSU will be a close game but UGA wins 34-20. BIG UGLIES ON BOTH SIDES!!
Mark Bradley
August 19th, 2009
1:44 pm
I hear Batman Carroll is swooping in from Gotham City just for the UGA game.
the real Old Gold
August 19th, 2009
1:46 pm
Vandy over Tech.. I’ll be there, and I’ll be foaming at the mouth to get home to my computer and “laugh in your face.”
Tide Rising
August 19th, 2009
1:47 pm
LSU and Bama both going 11-1? That’s hard to see. Both could have good seasons but 11-1 is hard to see for one of them let alone both of them.
LSU has 2 brutal games against the sec east when they travel to Athens for UGA and also against the gators. That’s 2 probable losses right there. Then they play Ole Miss on the road, Bama on the road, and they still have Ark, Auburn, etc. They could well end up being better than Bama and Ole Miss and still not win the west due solely to how tough their schedule is.
I can’t believe you discounted Ole Miss so much. To me they have the easiest path to the division. Just like Bama they avoid UGA and UF in the east but they also get both LSU and Bama at home. Their single issue is depth but if they can avoid the injury bug they can run the table. Hard to believe that this is the only team that beat UF last year and they did it in the swamp, they destroyed teams down the stretch last season, they’re settled in after a year under Nutt, and people like you are still dismissing them. And on top of all that you’re not even picking them 2nd or 3rd but 4th behind Ark?
And UT going 4-8? On talent alone they should more games even in a transition year.
DonnanDawg
August 19th, 2009
1:48 pm
SUX, you wouldn’t know the truth if it came up and smacked you right in your drunk/stoned face. A top 15 team dropping 6 games???? I’d surmise that you are a disgruntled Yech fan; seven straight losses to UGA has to hurt, huh? Please put down the weed & booze……let it go.
Mark Bradley
August 19th, 2009
1:49 pm
I think Nutt’s teams are better when they’re not hyped. He’s the best upset guy in the country, but I’m not sure he’ll do the same as a favorite.
Johnny DangerDawg
August 19th, 2009
1:50 pm
I agree that Lane Kiffin’s Vols won’t be contenders this year. But I do think he will get ONE upset win against a superior team. And the media will go crazy just like they did when Saban beat Arkansas in his first year at Bama.
Mark Bradley
August 19th, 2009
1:52 pm
I did give Lane K. one win over a better team. Auburn.
DawginLex
August 19th, 2009
1:55 pm
LSU, despite the beatdown of the nerd herd in the chicken bowl, will be the biggest dissappointment of the 3 favorites in the west. Alabama and Ole miss will decide the west. LSU will lose to florida, Bama, UGA and Ole miss/Arkiesaw. 8-4
Mark Bradley
August 19th, 2009
1:56 pm
I have to say, these comments are nothing if not educational. “Nerd herd”: Never heard — no pun intended — that one.
Tide Rising
August 19th, 2009
1:57 pm
Mark,
You have a point there about Nutt’s teams being better when they are underdogs and the question about whether or not Ole Miss can handle such expectations.
However, history shows that good coaches usually have really good years in their 2nd year. That first year is usually just a transition year. Just some quick examples but Saban took Bama from 6-6 to 12-0 his 2nd season, Jim Tressel and Bob Stoops both went from 7-5 in their initial years to 12-0 and national titles in their 2nd year. You can look at countless other coaches and you will generally see that most successful coaches did dramatically better in their 2nd year after that initial 1st trasition year. Urban Meyer would be yet another example going from 9-4 his first year to 13-1 and a national title in his 2nd year.
Now I’m not saying Ole Miss is due a national title. I’m just saying that if the pattern holds that his 2nd team should be dramatically better than his 1st team.
John(Jacksonville, Fl.)
August 19th, 2009
1:58 pm
How is Okie state gonna beat UGA when Zac Robinson is on his back and running for his life the entire game? AS UGA fans we have heard it this before. Great offense this, great offense that. Give me a break already. Defense wins, and UGA WILL have a great oen this year.